JILL GALLIENI (1948, FRANCE)

Jill Galliéni was born in 1948 to an American mother and a French father who was an actor. Brought up away from her parents, her father took over her care when she was seven.Jill always creates strange fabric dolls and turned to prayer towards the age of thirty as a way of helping her to rebuild her life and free herself from the mental traps that were stopping her from living her life.She initially wanted to “speak” through words, but, finding it unbearable, she invented prayers – always the same, repeated hundreds of times.

These “litanies” are tightly bundled garlands that hides the meaning of the prayer. The prayers are addressed to Saint Rita, patron saint of lost causes.These black or coloured ink signs are imitation of the written words or superimposed layers of writing, that covering isolated sheets or entire notebooks.

The personal rhythm permitted the creation of different directions, curves, diagonals, calligram flowers and abstract shapes.Her texts – including a rare notebook presented at the Histoire(s) de carnet exhibition at Drawing Now Paris in 2010 – have recently been acquired by the Lille Métropole Museum of Modern, Contemporary and Outsider Art.